Wednesday, February 9, 2011

BTR 2 - Macroeconomics by Dornbusch, Fischer and Startz


The second book in the series is, 

Macroeconomics by Rudiger Dornbusch, Stanley Fischer and Richard Startz

This is a very well written and nice book on introductory microeconomics. There are though some books which are easier to read compared to this one, most famous among them are probably
Principles of Macroeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw; and
Macroeconomic Analysis by Edward Shapiro

However, I found Macroeconomics by Dornbusch, Fischer and Startz the best introductory book which is easy to read as well as covers almost all the materials required for undergraduates and provides good foundation for graduate courses.

The book contains national income accounting, introduction to growth, aggregate demand and supply models and IS-LM models, introduction to business cycles and much more. The problems at the end of the chapter should be attempted and solved in order to have good understanding. Again the diagrams play very important role in understanding the topics presented in the topic. The knowledge of algebraic illustrations would be very helpful to solving the problems. Mathematics required to read the book is very elementary.

This book can be accompanied with 

Schaum’s Outlines of Macroeconomics; which has lots of solved and unsolved problems. This outline contains a brief and very lucid introduction about each topic and then proceeds with solved problems. The problems are solved using both diagrammatic and mathematical techniques. 

Those who didn’t have economics at undergraduate level should read both of them together. This will enable them comprehend the topics presented in the book themselves with little help required from outside.
Once you have read these two books completely and you are able to solve the problems at the end of the chapter; you are ready for graduate level courses in Macroeconomics.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you! this is actually very helpful. The only question I have is did you read the books in your native language or in English?
    Thank you!

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  2. I read the book in English and this post is also based on the English version of the book.

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  3. If a remember well i read it as a complement at university for an exam..........well written.

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  4. Thanks Caracass... I am waiting for updates from your side. Hope you had some progress!

    ReplyDelete